Capitals defensive prospect Connor Carrick has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the club, according to Mike Vogel. Via CSN’s Chuck Gormley, Carrick’s deal carries a $550,000 NHL salary in years one and two, and a cap hit of $575,000 in year three.

A native of Orland Park, Illinois, Carrick has had a strong preseason in the NHL, making the case to go pro and play in the AHL this season. He couldn’t do that without a contract, but a deal doesn’t guarantee him a place in the pro league. Just like a contract of his friend and teammate Tom Wilson, Carrick’s contract will slide (extend automatically one year) unless he plays in 10 or more NHL games this season.

From the Capitals:

The Washington Capitals have signed defenseman Connor Carrick to a three-year, entry-level contract, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today.

Carrick, 19, recorded 44 points (12 goals, 32 assists) in 68 games for the Plymouth Whalers (OHL) last season. The Orland Park, Illinois, native led Whalers defensemen in goals and penalty minutes (79) in 2012-13 and ranked second among defensemen in assists and points. Carrick skated in 15 playoff games for Plymouth last season, ranking first among Whalers skaters in assists (16) and third in points (18) during the postseason.

The 5’10”, 197-pound defenseman collected 21 points (8 goals, 13 assists) in 57 games with the United States National Under-18 Development team in 2012. Carrick helped the United States win a gold medal at the 2012 U-18 World Junior Championships, recording two goals and two assists in six tournament games.

Carrick was drafted by Washington in the fifth round (137th overall) in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski/USA Today Sports

]]>http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2013/09/23/connor-carrick-signs-three-year-entry-level-contract-with-washington-capitals/feed/2Tomas Kundratek’s Deal is Good For Both Player and Teamhttp://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2013/07/02/tomas-kundrateks-deal-is-good-for-both-player-and-team/
http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2013/07/02/tomas-kundrateks-deal-is-good-for-both-player-and-team/#commentsTue, 02 Jul 2013 23:54:42 +0000http://www.russianmachineneverbreaks.com/?p=50262

Photo credit: Greg Fiume

The Washington Capitals have announced that Czech defenseman Tomas Kundratek has signed a two-year contract worth $1.1 million. Kundratek played 49 games with the AHL’s Hershey Bears last season, scoring 16 goals and tallying 31 points. His surprising breakthrough resulted in an extended look in the NHL, where Kundratek played in 25 games, netting one goal and seven points.

This new deal with the 23-year-old blueliner is another example of George McPhee’s crafty management.

And Kundratek benefits from the deal as well. Tomas gets more guaranteed money because the first year of the contract is a one-way deal.

The Capitals had this flexibility because of Section 10.2a of the CBA:

A Club’s Qualifying Offer must be a One-Way Qualifying Offer if the applicable Player has: (A) actually played (excluding games missed for injury, illness or disability) 180 or more NHL Games in the previous three (3) NHL Seasons, (B) played at least sixty (60) NHL Games in the previous NHL Season, and (C) not cleared Waivers in the period between the 12th day prior to the commencement of the previous Regular Season and the end of a Club’s previous Playing Season.

Kundratek doesn’t qualify under any of the three conditions. He’s played in 30 NHL games in his career, 25 last year with Washington, and has never been placed on waivers. His qualifying offer could have been a one-year two-way deal. Instead, the first year of the contract he signed today is one-way. That means that regardless of him being sent down to Hershey next season, Kundratek will receive the $550,000 he was promised. In the second year of the contract, he will receive $150,000 if he gets sent to Hershey and $550,000 if he plays for Washington.

If Kundratek doesn’t make the Capitals out of training camp this season, his $550,000 cap hit won’t count against the cap. That would happen despite the new “Wade Redden Rule” written into the CBA, which limits teams’ ability to save money by sending down players who make more than $900,000. The same goes for next season as well.

Kundratek is also a newly waiver-eligible player beginning next season, which slightly reduces the probability of him being sent down.

As you can see, the Caps get some very badly needed cap relief as a result, while Kundratek receives some extra cash for his troubles. That’s how you show respect to your players (while also setting yourself up well for free agency).

Signing Alexander Semin to a one-year extension was a good move. It limits the Capitals exposure to the potential downside if he doesn’t preform to expectations and lets them remain flexible enough to trade Semin if they choose. And while we are on the subject of Alex contracts, do you think there will come a time where Washington will feel constrained by Ovechkin’s monster deal?

I think we can all agree that paying $9-10 million for a player who will score less than 30 goals puts a cramp in the salary cap. In fact, it is somewhat easy to estimate how much of a hindrance it might become. Using Tom Awad’s Goals Versus Threshold (GVT) metric, we can see when the Great 8’s contract will become the Great Burden. GVT measures a skaters contribution on both the offensive and defensive side of the puck, as well as the shootout. The higher the number, the better that skater is over what a replacement level player would produce.

In an effort to reduce the amount of “Ovechkin will never not be good” comments, I am going to have him follow the same career path as Wayne Gretzky. When calculating Ovechkin’s value, he will depreciate at the rate Gretzky did at the same age for the life of his contract. Note that we don’t know for sure what Ovechkin’s 2011 GVT will be, so I am going to use Gretzky’s regression for that as well. I think the regression model used will be more generous than what will actually happen, adding some error in Ovechkin’s favor. Wins are determined by GVT, with six goals above threshold equal to one victory. We will also assume wins get more expensive every season and that the cost of them will increase 4% each year. When we say “cost,” we are asking “what would it cost in the open market to replace this type of production.” Salary info from CapGeek.

Season

Age

Salary

GVT

Wins

$perWin

Running Cost

Running Salary

Delta

2010

24

$9.00

30.1

5.0

$2.00

$10.03

$9.00

$1.03

2011

25

$9.00

27.2

4.5

$2.08

$19.46

$18.00

$1.46

2012

26

$9.00

29.2

4.9

$2.16

$29.98

$27.00

$2.98

2013

27

$9.00

21.9

3.6

$2.25

$38.19

$36.00

$2.19

2014

28

$9.00

22.3

3.7

$2.34

$46.87

$45.00

$1.87

2015

29

$10.00

17.6

2.9

$2.43

$53.99

$55.00

$(1.01)

2016

30

$10.00

22.8

3.8

$2.53

$63.60

$65.00

$(1.40)

2017

31

$10.00

13.3

2.2

$2.63

$69.43

$75.00

$(5.57)

2018

32

$10.00

6.3

1.1

$2.74

$72.32

$85.00

$(12.68)

2019

33

$10.00

15.2

2.5

$2.85

$79.53

$95.00

$(15.47)

2020

34

$10.00

6.2

1.0

$2.96

$82.62

$105.00

$(22.38)

2021

35

$10.00

14.0

2.3

$3.08

$89.82

$115.00

$(25.18)

First, let me say that from a business perspective, it is a great deal. If I am completely right with this projection (obviously I am not) then the merchandise revenue, ticket sales and nachos sold will more than make up for a $25 million deficit. However, after year 2014 or 2015 from a hockey production perspective, we should start to see the Caps paying more than what the on-ice value they’re getting is worth. When you are trying to win a Cup in the salary cap era, that is not good.